#KYC Is a friend a friend or a friend for what he can get from you? Single parents are very vulnerable

I was the first man in England to get care custody and control of his children.

The vulnerability started in the early seventies.

My solicitors in Swindon Wiltshire that handled the debt collecting of my architectural practice had made a mess of my divorce, as the solicitor that was due to handle it could not and a substitute stepped in. I decided to handle the case having studied military law at RMA Sandhurst. It meant some studying in the Swindon library but I handled it successfully.

Because of the divorce Peter Jolly and I had to shelve our plans for an architectural practice based in Lambourn Berkshire and both got temporary jobs at the Crown Offices in Reading. Later he joined them full time and for more security for my daughters I took a job in the Town Planning office at Swindon Wiltshire - Principal Planning office, promised that the bar would be lifted for promotion, but it was not.

Obviously I was frustrated and one day a salesman David Hobbs walked into the planning office. Noting my frustration he suggested that I set up and architectural practice in Swindon and that he would also draw a salary as he could bring a project of 48 houses in the Cotswold for which he had a financial backer; who also managed the BOAC pension fund and might employ us to design and office complex. David Hobbs formed Brenmine Securities Limited and off the shelf company.

He moved to Lambourn with his wife Kate and after the 48 Cotswold houses which made £48,000 (of which I saw none) he wanted to do more projects. I said why not go to one bank for the development company and he said no, "that we would try several banks and then decided which one to use" It all sounded fine and I would too busy with my head over the drawing board to see what was going on, providing the cash flow to support his income My bungalow was given as a guaranteed unwittingly to more than one Merchant Bank by me as he had no equity in his house really.

I moved to Madrid in May 1974 with a view to see if a branch office for my Architectural practice could be opened there. I took Malcolm Ward in as a partner and he took care of the Swindon Office. Ken J had been blowing hot and cold about the Swindon office complex but finally we had the green light. Whilst at Swindon

I had designed severval housing estates and a couple of houses that were featured in the Ideal Home Magazine House 1 - House 2. 

A non-resident in the UK was not allowed an overdraft so I asked David Hobbs to collect the rent of my bungalow in Lambourn and pay it into ban/building society every month without fail as I had not sold it before I left for Madrid. I came back after 6 months in Madrid to see how the architectural practice was doing in Swindon. David Hobbs said “I will give you the rent money as Kate has been using it for housekeeping during the six months you were away in Madrid” Something did not smell right.

Prior to leaving for Madrid David Hobbs., having used my architectural practice to support him for a few years suggested that I had the architectural practice, that he had the construction company and that we shared the holding company. Like a fool I accepted his proposal. In view of the “misappropriated rent” I decided to resign from the holding company Brenmine Securities Limited with the company´s main bankers in Hungerford releasing me from my guarantee. David Hobbs promised me that his accountant Rob James would get me released from all the merchant bank guarantees. All lies as I was to find out the following August

Also at a later date David Hobbs had requested a short term loan for his construction company from the architectural practice via the clearing bank and it was not repaid. More warning signals.

I travelled by train from Madrid in August 1976 and during the trip managed to read a copy of the Telegraph. In it I saw and eye catching advertisement for a developer company seeking an investor. Upon arrival in Swindon I confronted David Hobbs about it and he replied “How did I know?” By the end of the month I had merchant bank trying to seize my property in Lambourn for David Hobbs company loans. His accountant Robb James it would appear had not got me released from the Merchant Bank loans. The property had been on the market and during that August I had managed to sell it. The purchaser said “return to Spain and everything will go through alright” 

The trouble is in the UK that when the house is surveyed for the buyer, the surveyor normally works for a real estate agent and can persuade you buyer to purchase one of their properties. That is what happened to me! Well financially I could not remain in Spain as the peseta had sunk to 100 to the pound. A friend in my apartment, Peter Havas had rung up my phone bill ringing the Middle East for his business. I put my furniture in storage and went to the bank in Madrid to get some money for petrol. There was none – Peter Havas ´phone calls had emptied it! 

A friend Dave lent me 5,000 pesetas (the only loan from a friend in my life) I drove to Bilbao with my two children´s bicycles on the boot of the Lotus Europa. At Bilbao the boat was full. There was a foot passenger left stranded there so we decided to return to the UK via France with the lady sharing the costs

– It was an eventful trip the car breaking down between Bilbao and San Sebastian, but a good Spanish mechanic fixed to alternator. An overnight stop in Poitiers France before finally landing on the English shores to a barely finished bungalow in the UK.

1975/1976 During the past year Rob James and his wife Linda had offered to look after my daughters for which he had been paid for, due to my being cheated by David Hobbs. He had wanted to start a garage adjacent to Steve Coen´s premises in Swindon and I lent him £1,500. He then wanted a further £1,500 and when I could not come up with it he kicked my children out onto the streets. We were all reunited at Lambourn and had to sleep on the floors or the one sofa.

Well here I was in the UK again with a mortgage to pay, two children to feed and no job. I had to go to social security the first and only time in my life, but it was only for three months at the most as unfortunately I met a one Doug Human whom I had known briefly before I went to Spain. On hindsight the one parent father should have stayed on Social Security and raised his two daughters. Well not wanting to abuse the state I took a job as a van driver for the company that Doug Human was working for in Hungerford. It was only part time but within a short space of time they were pleased with me and offered me a full time job as warehouse manager. As I had planned to return to Spain it was pointless returning to Architecture and in any case the UK was in a housing recession.

A year passed and one weekend I had a bad attack of asthma when the frying pan caught fire and the next thing I knew I woke up in hospital. My tenant was holding me up at the bathroom window (I had given her free accommodation in return for helping me look after my girls) She went to let the doctor in and I collapsed my tongue closing over my throat. I needed resuscitation... Well the nurse at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Swindon and her husband purchased the house. I had to drop £2,000 but it was not worth dying for that amount.

Doug Human was not happy with his work and my eldest daughter did not want to return to Spain as she was courting a Berkshire lad in the village.  Doug and his partner Diane Parkes offered to look after her, obviously paid by myself and I fell for it yet again – a loan of £1500 to Doug for him to start a similar business. Because he was not allowed to work in a similar line of business it was put into his girlfriend’s name.

Like the helpful person that I am I introduced them the bank manager of the Midland Bank at Regents Circus Swindon. Whilst at Eric Coles and Partners in Swindon I had designed the bank interior and was Christian name terms with the manager David Maggs.

I went to guarantee £1500. David Maggs said “John I think we will show you as a partner. There are no forms but that does not matter we will get you to sign these papers”. Like a fool and without legal advice I did
.

Without going into too many details the amount I lost thanks to Doug Human., assisted by David Maggs., maybe inadvertently pushed the loss up to £6,000 by December 1979. Had it been just a guarantee it would have been £1500 but Maggs had duped me into signing a Partnership Agreement. About August 1979 Diane Parkes said to me “We want all the money that you got for your bungalow for our business” I replied that it was £4,000 less than the figure she mentioned. She said “We want that then”

Well that Christmas at the Managers request I returned to the UK in an attempt to sort things out. Human and Parkes had fled taking my eldest daughter to Majorca with them, effectively a kidnapping, loading the car with stock of their company and leaving unpaid bills everywhere. Later I believe they were caugut smugling drugs where he had got a job as the skipper of the Bejam boat.

When they could not get any more money from me they put my daughter out on the street, into a Hungerford flat with drug addicts.

As I have said earlier my case against the Midland Bank took 20 years (without going into all the details here) and cost another £6,000 half a payment into court and the remainder in costs. Luckily I acted as my own prosecutor

I did recover the money I loaned to Rob James who settled outside of court - the loan being in a separate account at the Midland Bank., the longer that James took to repay it the more interest he would have to repay. The manager Maggs did not like me taking this action against James.

I was not allowed to work in Spain legally from the time that I arrived 1974 until the time that Spain joined the EU - nearly twenty years. After all the experience mentioned here and these regulations what was needed was a country that would allow a company with just one director and overseas. A limited liability company was incorporated on 5/5/1981 and became an investment company.

My Oscar Formula Ford 1600 rolling chassis vanished with my draughtsman who asked if he could borrow it. Steve Coen took over the running of Brensec race car hire with the Reynard F75 and the Merlyn Mk 25 and never let me down. Adrian Reynard had asked me to finance a second FF chassis in 1976 and never paid me back stating that the driver David Heale had never paid him for it!

The last attempted partnership scam against me was a Terry Howarth with a company that we formed Sunrise Holidays Limited but I a smelt a rat and got out. I reported him to the police but they did nothing. I saw him a year a two later drinking in a Torremolinos hotel Cervantes and he boasted that he had given the policeman a free holiday. The drink allowed him to tell me "John I thought you were a soft touch but you were the toughest one I have come across" - soon after the on the English newspaper headlines were Sunrise Holidays leaves passengers stranded in Disneyworld and Spain

Do not trust anyone in business

Above are the names of those that scammed me (without prejudice)

 

Notes - to be continued